Thirty minutes before hella descended to the first landing, the huge door to the dungeon opened. It opened in front of a team of adventurers made up of three men and two women who had just returned to venture into the dungeon.
On their way, they encountered several dungeon creatures, such as the green-bellied black snake, the six-eyed giant crab, the fork-tongued giant toad and some shifting dead trees, as well as a few lone goblins.
But these enemies posed no obstacle to the group, as they were all eliminated one after the other by the warrior Celestine and the knight Ralph, who took great pleasure in tearing them to pieces with sharp attacks. Meanwhile, the other members of the group walked behind without really worrying about the other two, who raced towards the enemy in front of them to eliminate them while clearing the way.
- So this is Amon's dungeon? I'm a bit disappointed. It's considered to be the second most difficult and dangerous dungeon, but here... nothing interesting happens. And yet we're already on the second floor.
uttered Célestine after cutting a fleeing goblin in half. She took a handkerchief out of her pocket to clean her rapier when Linale, whose head was plunged into a file, replied
- What are you talking about? We're only on the second floor of the first landing. According to this document, Amon's dungeon is made up of ten levels, each containing ten floors, making a total of one hundred floors.
- Where did you get this document?
Ralph asked after cutting off the head of another large anaconda, about ten metres long.
- As this is our first mission in this area, I bought this dungeon guide from the guild. It's quite interesting and also includes a detailed map of the first and second levels. And that's it! I've spotted the perfect spot for our mission.
- In that case, you'll be our chief guide. Don't get us lost in this dungeon, because some of us don't know how to stay put.
Pronounced the old mage to Linale, while glaring at Ralph and Celestine, who hadn't realised they were being designed by him. After rummaging through the map in his manuscript, Linale pointed to a small staircase leading to the entrance of a corridor.
- I think the designer route. A recently discovered road that leads directly to the 2nd floor. Let's go there!
- Recently, eh?
pronounced the old mage with a little doubt when Ralph continued
- It doesn't matter! Let's get on with it! We'll see what happens.
And so they set off down the road in question without too much fuss.
On their way, they came across many other monsters of the same kind as the previous ones, but as usual, Ralph and Celestine took the lead, eliminating all the monsters in front of them without any great difficulty. They didn't even think it was necessary to use any magical abilities on these monsters, and contented themselves with simple sword blows. But that was enough for them to exterminate all the monsters in their path.
The others walked quietly behind them, jumping or avoiding the corpses of the monsters and their blood. They continued in this way until
- Waaaaah incredible!
shouted Célestine, who was standing next to Ralph at the end of a corridor where a blue light was coming from. The other members hurried over to have a look and to their surprise, they came across
- A cave full of slime.
Ralph said, looking at the pile of slime in the huge cave, which was also filled with precious stones with blue light. A beautiful find that lit up the eyes of the adventurers.
- I've never seen such a mass of slime all in one place. There must be hundreds of them. That's good, I'll use them as a warm-up.
Ralph uttered before jumping into the pile of slime with his sword.
- You idiot, don't do that. The slimes in this dungeon are irregular.
shouted Linale, but Ralph was already in the middle of the slimes, who instead of running away from such a strong opponent, threw themselves at him from all sides. Ralph himself was surprised, but he didn't expect anything more. He smiled a little before slicing through the first ten slimes in his grasp.
Then he followed up with a series of attacks and slashes on the slimes, each of which proved more ferocious than the last with each assault.
- It's the first time I've seen slimes jump at an opponent four times their strength.
Célestine said as Linale replied
- According to this document, they're the fruit of an experiment conducted by a demon king. They're not ordinary slimes.
- Oh, an experiment conducted by a demon king, eh? I'm interested in that. Hey hothead, try not to kill them all, okay?
Pronounced the old mage to Ralph, who was caught in a hellish circle of hundreds of slimes rushing at him, some of which avoided his sword blows and even managed to hit him on the counterattack despite being weak enough not to cause him any significant damage.
- He seems to be enjoying himself. Come on, I'm going to join the dance too.
Célestine shouted before leaping into the air, turning on herself, head down and drawing her two rapiers to come down on the slimes, cutting them in half to eliminate them. She too was immediately targeted by the slimes, who threw themselves at her from all sides, but they were no match for her speed and the swiftness of her blades, which cut the slimes in half without them being able to do anything.
The smiles gave it their all, and their fast, ferocious attacks rained down from all sides. But the two young men had no trouble avoiding them, repelling them or cutting them in half.
- Just look at them! They look like a bunch of brats let loose in a toy forest. Sometimes they put me to shame.
Pronounced Ander, the group's priest. While the two were having fun, the other three just stood aside and watched the scene without intervening. The old mage then asked Linale
- So this is where we're going to do it?
- Yes! As soon as they've finished with the slime, we'll do our mission in this room of the dungeon. After all, she assured us that it could work in any room in the dungeon, right? Then this place will be perfect.
As soon as they'd finished talking, they saw dozens of slimes coming together in front of them, merging with each other to form a huge multicoloured puddle ball with two small black balls as eyes and a big evil smile on her face as she looked at the two adventurers standing in front of her.
The adventurers were shocked.
- Have they merged?
Ralph asked.
- Is that normal?
asked Célestine.
- A slime king! So it's not just a legend. I never thought I'd see one here in these conditions. He mustn't disperse or we'll have nothing. Ralph, Célestine, kill it quickly and precisely so it doesn't scatter. That's an order.
Linale shouted in astonishment at the creature.
"Received five out of five
Ralph and Célestine replied at the same time, before going back on guard.
- The first to score wins the right to do whatever he wants with the loser. Are you tempted, my little celestina?
- Loser, eh?! You probably mean loser! Because you're the one who's going to get a beating. I accept your challenge. I'm faster than you anyway, so all bets are off.
- You sure about that?
- Stay here and watch me do it. And one last thing, only my daddy has the right to call me celestina, so I forbid it, understand?
Célestine uttered before running at phenomenal speed towards the slime and then doing a big jump. The slime's body began to move on itself before forming several spears with pointed ends to attack both Celestine in the air and Ralph on the ground.
- Papounet? Better and better, I see she's remained the little noblewoman despite our arduous adventures.
Ralph pronounced before slicing through the slime's attacks and rushing at it. The beast then began to attack them with all its power, giving rise to dozens of spears of fluid thrown at high speed and with enough strength to break the ground and fly towards its enemies. But his attacks had no effect on the duo, one of them managing to avoid all the attacks from the sky, while the other managed to slice through them all as he charged straight ahead. Both were closing in on their targets dangerously fast.
A few moments later, Ralph and Celestine had finished clearing the slime-filled room. The others moved towards the centre of the room. The old mage immediately rushed to retrieve the body of the slime king, which was lying in a liquid state on the floor. He collected the whole body in a small vial, smiling broadly. Célestine watched him do this and asked him a question
- What do you intend to do with this?
- Well, study it, of course. It's not every day you get to recover failed experiments from a demon king.
- Gross! I vote we sell it. Well, now you'll have to do whatever I want, won't you, Ralph?
- Oh, that's all right. No need to get cute. I was just distracted for a second. That's all there is to it.
- Hahaha no, you tried to stab him but your sword was blocked by his limp body and you took an attack on my face that sent you to the other side of the room. Don't change the truth. You took a beating just as I planned and I took the opportunity to eliminate him hahaha.
The old mage then intervenes with a little explanation
- A basic slime doesn't fear unsharp physical attacks, whereas a king smile is completely impervious to physical attacks. If you'd taken your lessons properly, you'd have known that and you'd have won the challenge.
- Shut up, both of you. I was just distracted, that's all. So tell me what you want me to do.
- Hmmm let me think...Ah I want you to do what you wanted me to do.
Immediately, Ralph, who had been sulking in his corner, began to blush until he was at a loss for words. He couldn't even get a word in edgeways and seemed a little ashamed of himself. Given the situation and Célestine's innocence, who was waiting to see Ralph's answer, the old magician intervened by saying
- Frankly, Lady Célestine, what do you think a man could ask a young woman in this kind of situation?
- What do you mean? What do you mean by that?
Célestine had a moment to think before she hit on the idea and her reaction was immediate
- Haaaaa space of lecherous beast. You should be ashamed of yourself. You bastard!
- All right, I get it.
- You pervert!
- Sorry, sorry, sorry!
- You big puke!
- If only I still had something to say.
On the other side of the room, Linale and Ander the priest had just triggered a magic spell using a magical object. In an instant, the room was filled with circles of magic from the floor to the ceiling and the walls. Other magic circles were suspended in the air and all around the magical artefact in question. A sight that left no one indifferent. Linale then asked the old mage
- What on earth is that thing?
- I've no idea! I know as much as you do. You should have asked the priestess who entrusted us with these three treasures: the anti-monster barrier, the miracle and this strange object. But having said that, I can still feel a kind of analytical magic emanating from this artefact. But I don't know what it's really for.
- Analysis? That's right. I should have asked this woman. After all, she's given us three very rare artefacts just for this mission and the reward is pretty huge for a mission that anyone can complete. Suddenly, I'm not feeling this mission.
- It's a bit too late for that, isn't it? Anyway, the priestesses of the cult of light have a reputation for being weird. Don't look too far.
That's when Ander intervenes in the conversation
- That's enough of that! I won't let you insult a noble priestess. She gave us this object for the mission and two others so that we could return alive. You should be happy and grateful instead of disrespecting her.
- Yes! Yes! Priest. We understand and we take back what we said. Right, now we're going to have to find the boss's room on this map.
said Linale when Ander resumed with surprise
- The boss room? Doesn't our mission end here? I thought our mission was just to activate this object somewhere in the dungeon and then wait for it to turn itself off and bring it back to the priestess who hired us?
- Of course not. We have an anti-monster artefact as well as another extremely rare power. Do you really think we're going to miss a chance like this to make a real boss of ourselves?
- But what?
The old mage then continued
- She's not wrong. With this artefact, you can very easily beat even the boss of the second level. Do you know what the reward is for beating a tier boss? It's an hour!
- One hour of total freedom in the dungeon without any monsters attacking you. You can take anything you want without the slightest hitch. Just imagine all the treasures you can get out of here.
Linale continued and then the old mage continued
- Look at all the precious stones in this place and imagine what we could find in the boss's treasure room. Haven't you ever heard of adventurers who became millionaires overnight? Well, this is our chance to be millionaires too.
- Exactly! A single dungeon floor has enough wealth to finance an entire state. We can't let this chance go by. As soon as we've completed the mission, we'll move up to the next level, where it'll be a merciless battle. But in the end, it's us who'll win.
- You're mad. A holy person gave us these blessed objects for a noble cause and all you can think about is money...
Before he could finish his sentence, Ander was interrupted when all the magic circles in the room suddenly disappeared. Linale then approached the artefact and said
- It looks like it's already over. The way it's shining, the mission must have been a success. All right, then! Ralph, you take the magic object with you and... where is it?
Linale said, noticing that Ralph had disappeared. Célestine replied
- What, again? He does that to us every time we visit a dungeon.
Linale then added.
- He's doing it again. What an idiot. He really can't keep still, can he? Anyway, I'd given him some transformation potions as a precaution, so he should be fine. He should know better than to waste time trying to clean the landing. I hope so, anyway.
- I say we should hurry. Otherwise he'll ruin everything by going straight to the boss of the landing alone, as usual. The idiot thinks he's a hero.
replied Célestine. Linale then took the magic object before taking out some magic potions and distributing them to everyone.
- This level is run by ogres. This potion allows them to take on their appearance for a while, so drink it. Thanks to this, you'll be able to reach the boss's room without having to fight unnecessarily.
That's how they all turned into ogres after drinking the potion. Ander hesitated for a moment, but eventually followed the others. After their transformations, Linale added
- Ander, you're the one who owns the other two artefacts, aren't you, the anti-monster barrier and the miracle?
- Yes!
- So you stand back and are ready to use them at a moment's notice. The rest of you already know what to do. Let's go! Straight to the top floor. We'll get the boss of the landing.
And so, after several minutes, the group of adventurers came face to face with Assu, the master of the first level of Amon's dungeon. The fight was inevitable.
So we'll do as we said, Ralph, Célestine and I will take care of the big monster. Ander, concentrate on the artefact and the old man, collect as much pure Mana as you can, in short, let's go!
Pronounced Linale as she gave the go-ahead. The whole troop immediately moved into position to attack Assu, who stood up as best he could before letting out a loud cry of anger and rage. Célestine and Ralph were the first to start the dance, charging straight at Assu. Assu raised his hammer again and shouted
- Titanic concussion!!!
As he hit the ground, he sent a powerful shockwave that ravaged the ground towards his two assailants. Ralph and Celestine jumped up to avoid the attack. Linale took the opportunity to use an instantaneous movement skill to reappear behind Assu, drawing his bow before saying
- Shot of light: Multi shot!
She fired a dozen arrows in a single straight shot at her opponent. She then repeated the same attack several times to shoot her target in the back.
By avoiding Assu's previous attack, Celestine had leapt so high that she found herself above Assu's head. From above, she shouted
- 15 shots in one!!!
Before descending towards Assu's head. The latter had tried to counter her with an ascending Massu attack, but the young woman had no trouble avoiding the attack despite her position, and then inflicted a series of extremely vicious 15-stroke sword blows on her enemy's body. She then landed on the ground before making another great leap backwards as the wounds she had inflicted on Assu bled profusely and looked quite serious.
Célestine's attack was closely followed by Ralph, who took advantage of the situation to quickly close in on the monster and launch his most powerful attack.
- Lunar sword: the saving wave!!!
He then executed an upward movement with his sword, which glowed blue, before launching a sharp beam of light straight at the monster's chest. Ralph's attack caused serious damage to Assu, who bled profusely after taking it. He took two steps backwards before going down on one knee for the second time, vomiting blood. With a fist and a face full of rage, he said
- humns ( humans ) , humns ( humans ) humns (humans ) humns (humans )!
Then he stopped abruptly and slowly raised his head, looking at Ralph and his other companions, all ready to fight, before saying
- Bravo humn, you missed your only chance. Now you're going to meet a death worthy of a miserable humn.
Ralph got back into position, smiling before replying
- Hahaha but the big monster's almost scary.
The battle between the adventurers and the boss of the first level had just begun. Under the impassive and deeply angry gaze of the mistress of the dungeon, who had managed to calm her anger and remain silent with a chilling coldness.